Prosecco is the Italian answer to Champagne. A sparkling alcoholic drink that is made from late-ripening white grapes from the Veneto region, it is served chilled, and makes a nice accompaniment to salty prosciutto.
It was Prosecco, not Champagne, that was originally mixed with peach puree for the elegant cocktail known as the Bellini. Prosecco is a protected designation that can only be used on wines made from the Prosecco grape in the Conegliano/Valdobbiadene region of Italy. Unfortunately for Prosecco purists, this is indeed where Rich Prosseco, the maker of the Paris Hilton-shilled Prosecco in a can, gets it wine.
Blog: Prosecco vs. prosciutto (Eat DC)
Reference: What is prosciutto? (Cookthink)
Blog: Prosecco makers: it's swanky, not skanky (Cookthink)
Recipe: Bellini (Hair of the Dog)
Dom Pérignon was a Benedictine monk who was born in the 17th century and who's widely credited with the invention of Champagne.
An ambitious winemaker, Pérignon devised ways to refine the process of refermentation, the process that gives Champagne its bubbles (and, in the worst of circumstances, can explode). He helped to establish rules about using Pinot Noir grapes, pruning vines, harvesting in cool, damp morning weather, blending grapes before processing them, and the other fine points of Champagne production that are still used today.
Still, many historians now believe that English scientist and physician Christopher Merret "invented" Champagne 30 years before Pérignon, who was also said to have been blind (another point that historians discount).
Myths die hard, however, and many people still believe Pérignon's first taste of sparkling wine inspired the famous quote, "Come quickly, I am drinking the stars!" (Others contest this was an ad slogan dating from the late 19th century.)
Whatever the facts, his namesake Dom Pérignon Champagne, which has been around since 1936, is a favorite of James Bond and one of the world's most exclusive bottles of bubbly. It's produced by the house of Moët & Chandon.
Reference: What is prosecco? (Cookthink)
Recipe: Champagne cocktails (Wine Intro)
What is the difference between liquor and liqueur?
What is the difference between liquor and liqueur?
A liquor is an alcoholic drink that is distilled from grains or plants, such as rum, vodka, gin or whiskey.
A liqueur is a sweet or herbal alcoholic drink that is made from fruit, herbs, flowers, nuts or spices plus (usually) sugar and a spirit such as grain alcohol, vodka or rum. Liqueurs can be served as before or after-dinner drinks and used in desserts. Many liqueurs are made in France, such as Cassis (made with black currants), Chartreuse (made from plants and flowers) or Pastis (flavored with anise seeds).
Champagne is a region of France that produces the world's most celebrated bubbly of the same name.
Real Champagne is made exclusively from a blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay grapes. Vintners in many countries do make their own champagne-inspired sparkling wines, but the real thing is produced soley in the Champagne region of northeastern France. If someone tries to serve you "champagne" from the United States, Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic or anywhere else outside of Champagne, know that you're being duped. It may be delicious but it's not Champagne, which is a label protected by the European Union.
Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon is generally credited with the "invention" of Champagne, though many historians now believe that English scientist and physician Christopher Merret was onto refermentation 30 years before Pérignon (who was also said to have been blind—another point many historians discount).
Regardless of who made the first Champagne, it takes about three months for the bubbles to form in bottles during the secondary fermentation process, during which time they are kept in chalky cool underground caves. There, the bottles are turned and shaken at regular intervals. Champagnes range from dry to slightly sweet.
Reference: Who was Dom Pérignon? (Cookthink)
Reference: What is Prosecco? (Cookthink)
(Image from the Directory of French Winegrowers)
Apéritif is a French word for a drink taken before a meal in order to whet the appetite.
Plant-based drinks have been used therapeutically throughout the ages to aid the appetite, but nobody really knows when the custom of pre-dinner drinks began in earnest. Nevertheless, cocktail hour has been an American tradition since about the turn of the 20th century.
While some people drink hard alcohol and call it an apéritif, the word usually means a light drink such as wine-based vermouth, bitters like Campari, anise-flavored liqueurs like pastis and of course Champagne.
An apéritif is usually accompanied by small, salty snacks like nuts or olives; the word can also refer to a cocktail with finger food that can take the place of a full dinner.
Reference: Root Source: Pastis (Cookthink)
Reference: What is a Negroni? (Cookthink)
Vermouth is fortified white wine that's been infused with herbs and spices.
The word vermouth is from the German word for wormwood (wermut), which was a main ingredient until somebody decided it was poisonous. Vermouth was first commercially produced in Turin, Italy in the 18th century and now most vermouth is produced in Italy and France. But people have been making fortified wines since the 5th century.
Vermouth ranges from dry to sweet. White dry vermouth is a popular apéritif and used to make a martini; sweet red vermouth is drunk on ice or mixed into cocktails like a Manhattan; white bianco vermouth is slightly sweet.
Vermouth is also used in cooking, primarily to add an herbal wine-flavored touch to sauces.
Mansinthe is the official absinthe of Marilyn Manson, the outrageous, gender- and genre-bending rocker with a thing for the Green Fairy.
Following the re-emergence of absinthe in the 1990s, Manson was reported to have become a fan, apparently enjoying an adult dose of the wormwood-laced liqueur before shows.
Last year, Manson paired up with a Swiss distiller to produce his own authentic absinthe. Critics are mixed on the result. In April 2008, Mansinthe won a gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. A tasting panel at Epicurious thought otherwise; one reviewer compared its aroma to "sewage water or swamp mud."
Reference: What is absinthe? (Cookthink)
Reference: What is wormwood? (Cookthink)
what you should know
Christopher Columbus brought Asian sugar cane to the West Indies in 1492. The sweet, fibrous stalk spread quickly throughout the Caribbean. A century and a half later, the liquor distilled from it was notorious enough to be banned by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Rum is made from both fermented sugar cane and its syrupy by-product, molasses. Rich, caramel dark rum is made by aging clear rum in casks, usually ones made of charred oak. (The double distillation process is similar to the one used to make Cognac.)
yo ho ho Drinking rum to excess was a popular theme of pirate songs, and its general affiliation with the sea led to some interesting cocktails. Most of us know about grog, a mixture of rum and water (and sometimes lime). Kill Devil was a mixture of rum and gunpowder. Bumboo called for rum, water, sugar and nutmeg. And Rumbullion contained rum, wine, tea, lime, spices and -- one imagines -- anything else lying around Blackbeard's galley.
triangle trade Sugar cane and rum formed one leg of history's most despicable triangle trade routes.
rum do Spiced rum, which is flavored with spices and (often) caramel, does not qualify as dark rum. Neither do screech and tafia, two distinct corruptions of "proper" rum.
what you need
Several rum-centric histories have been published over the past few years: Ian Williams' Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776; Wayne Curtis' And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails; and Charles Coulombe's Rum: The Epic Story of the Drink that Conquered the World.
Save your back from all that hunching over to read the side of the measuring cup. Invest in an OXO Good Grips 2-cup angled measuring cup.
While you're indulging your OXO love, plop down the $20 for this 8-inch double rod strainer.
what you do
We used rum to deglaze the pan and form the base of the pan sauce, which infused some richness to this dish of braised pork with mushrooms and basil.
A stewed chicken dish popular in Trinidad and Tobago, this potent Caribbean chicken is sweet, spicy, rich and mouth-filling.
Speaking of Trinidad, to make a local rum punch, remember this little ditty: one part sour, two parts sweet, three parts strong, four parts weak.
And then there's the rest of the rum canon. Hot buttered rum. Hurricane. Mojito. Cuba libre. The list goes on.
Though the rum's optional in this banana hazelnut upside down cake, we urge you to tip it in.
Lemon zest adds a bright spark to a dish. There are lots of tools for zesting a lemon -- zester, a knife -- but it's hard to go wrong with a fine grater (such as the popular Microplane version), which makes a beautiful light zest that melds into a dish and gives great flavor.
To zest with the Microplane, just rub the lemon in one direction against the little blades. Turn the lemon as you go so you remove only the yellow part -- the zest. You don't want the white pith just beneath -- it's bitter.
If you use a traditional zester, which makes long, thin strands of zest, or a knife, be sure to finely chop the strands with a knife. The finer shrivels of zest will permeate the dish better than the strands.
To get the most flavor out of lemon zest, add it toward the end of cooking.
Recipe: Agnolotti With Eggplant, Tomatoes And Garlic (Cookthink)
Recipe: Broccoli With Fettuccine, Lemon Zest And Parmesan (Cookthink)
Recipe: Cremini Mushroom Risotto With Lemon Zest (Cookthink)
Reference: What is a Meyer lemon? (Cookthink)
